SoW Finale Part Two - The Winonies

Four months of pandemic quarantine. Twelve Winona Ryder movies and a TV show. Way more introspection than we expected from this season. And before it’s truly over, we have some awards to hand out! Listen to Alex and Julio as they highlight the good, the bad, the ugly and the iconic of The Summer Of Winona in this summer’s closing ceremonies, THE WINONIES!

And stick around until the very end for a special announcement about our next arc!

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SoW Finale Part One - Stranger Things

Netflix figured it out, didn’t they? The recipe for a hit show is simply to recreate 80s tropes and mainline nostalgia to the audience. Hence, STRANGER THINGS! Listen to Alex and Julio as they take one of those rare detours into TV to explore the most recent (and insanely popular) Winona Ryder project and wonder why anyone would sink about 30 hours into three seasons when they could get the same rush from watching a two-hour long 80s movie. The Summer of Winona Finale begins with an episode that might lose us half our listeners and we are sadly aware of how on-brand that is!

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Bonus! - Heathers

If there has been one constant throughout The Summer of Winona, it’s been the terrible romantic relationships Winona’s characters tend to find themselves in. Her much lauded first major leading role is no exception, as she finds herself dating a serial killer - one that looks and sounds like Christian Slater. Listen to Alex and Julio discuss the many ways HEATHERS falls short when compared to more modern high school movies! Share their frustration at seeing pretty girls being demonized once again! Sense their disbelief when Veronica keeps falling over and over again for JD’s mindgames! And be ready for a Real Talk that might have gotten too real!

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114 - Little Women (1994)

Meg marries poor. Beth dies. Amy marries the guy who was in love with Jo. And Jo… well, she says she wants a career but really she just needs to meet the right guy. Tale as old as time! Listen to Alex and Julio discuss the 1994 version of LITTLE WOMEN, the one starring our beloved Winona Ryder and a cavalcade of future stars! Young Christian Bale! Young Claire Danes! Young Kirsten Dunst! Slightly less old Gabriel Byrne! All of them bored out of their mind because they have to sit out the Civil War!

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113 - Homefront

Winona Ryder’s career in the 2000s is a lot more unpredictable than in the 90s. Case in point: her scene-stealing supporting turn in the action-thriller HOMEFRONT, playing James Franco’s trashy meth-slinging girlfriend! Listen to Alex and Julio marvel at Winona’s versatility while also wondering if Jason Statham is Sylvester Stallone’s true heir, why James Franco doesn’t play more villains, how likely is it that Clancy Brown’s Sheriff has never discharged his weapon and whether Kate Bosworth has finally broken out of the Lois Lane type-casting!

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Bonus! - The Crucible

Arthur Miller really knew how to lay it on thick. When he found himself smack dab in the middle of McCarthy’s Communist Witch Hunt, his answer was to write a play that simplified the situation to the dumbest level, made old-timey Puritans look like idiots and, casually, blamed women for everything. Listen to Alex and Julio try to make sense of Nicholas Hytner’s adaptation of THE CRUCIBLE, starring a cast of titans in addition to our beloved Winona! Why is it heroic for Daniel Day Lewis to leave his children fatherless? Why does Joan Allen feel the need to apologize for being cheated on? Why does everybody believe anything that follows the words “The Devil Says”? It’s the most devious Winona we’ve found so far and the one that leads to the heaviest Real Talk ever!

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112 - Edward Scissorhands

Behold the most underwhelming love story of The 90s: a girl with a penchant for bad boyfriends is suddenly attracted to a man-child with giant scissors for hands. Just another day in Tim Burton’s head! Listen to Alex and Julio try to figure out what EDWARD SCISSORHANDS is trying to say about love, community, Karens, bullies, outcasts… and the worst fairy tale you could share with a kid!

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111 - The Dilemma

When you see Vince Vaughnn and Kevin James on a movie poster, you don’t instantly think you are in for a complex analysis of the harsh realities of romantic relationships and faithfulness. You also don’t expect James to be married to Winona Ryder. Listen to Alex and Julio discuss THE DILEMMA and celebrate the way Ron Howard blindsided critics and audiences that were expecting just another dumb comedy!

Also: a brief tribute to Joel Schumacher after our usual Real Talk segment.

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Bonus! - Bram Stoker's Dracula

It’s common knowledge that Dracula equals Sex. We don’t need to talk about it because it’s so apparent to begin with. Enter Francis Ford Coppola, who didn’t just decide to turn subtext into Obvious Text and make the most sex-driven vampire movie ever, but also stain the reputations of Keanu Reeves, Anthony Hopkins and, of course, Winona Ryder, in the process. Listen to Alex and Julio discuss excess (Coppola’s and Gary Oldman’s) as The Summer of Winona continues with its most libidinous entry yet!

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